Sisters

In my family, there are lots of sets of sisters.  When they/we are little, we are called “the girls” or the “little girls.”  My mom has just one sibling, her sister Carol.  I have always loved my Aunt Carol and I got to visit with her yesterday as she lives here in Texas.  She retired this year after teaching high school English for 25 years.  We have always shared a love of reading and books…every time I see her, since I was very little, I have always asked her for a book recommendation and she always comes through with a great title for me.  I can’t wait to get the one she recommended yesterday!  She and my mom, although different in many ways, have always shared a special bond that is unlike their relationship with their other girlfriends…a commitment that goes beyond common interests.  There is something unique about those people that have known us our whole lives.  Since their parents have died, they are part of a very small club in which they are the only members…they share memories and secrets that their husbands and children and friends can’t share.  When they were little, they were the little girls.  When they were grown, they each had two little girls (in addition to my brother.)  One of Carol’s “little girls” also came to visit yesterday…now a beautiful, competent mother of 4!  In addition to two precious little boys, she also has her own set of “little girls.”  (This is where we all start singing “The Circle of Life” from the Lion King 🙂

So here is the point of all this: yesterday was my baby sister’s 39th birthday.  For those of you who read this blog regularly, you have heard about my sister before…if you read the comments, you have heard “from” my sister before.  Karen is my lifetime best friend, the one who I have laughed and cried with more than any other woman in the world.  We shared a room during part of our growing up years and we had a secret bedtime ritual all our own (that we still remember, by the way!)  She is a woman of incredible personal strength and courage; she has faced some tough challenges in her life and has come out with her sense of humor and her faith in God intact.  She is my hero in many ways and I admire and respect her more and more as I see her in the changing roles that life offers us…mom, wife, auntie, teacher, business woman.  I watch my girls together and I pray for them to have the kind of relationship that Karen and I have.  Now she has two little girls too (along with my precious nephew, who has been really sick for several days.  Please take a minute to pray for his recovery, if you are a praying person.)

So anyway, I had sisters on the brain today…60 something sisters, 30-40 something sisters, pre-teen sisters, and little bitty sisters.  So Happy Birthday, baby sister!  You are one of God’s biggest blessings in my life!